Home > Why is Qatar's percentage of female engineering students double the US's?

Why is Qatar's percentage of female engineering students double the US's?

Submitted by Jordan Woll on May 20, 2018 - 8:00pm

Twenty years ago, Qatar Foundation’s (QF) first US partner university opened its doors at ‘Education City’ in Doha. Today, there exists a cluster of hand-picked US partner universities, all located within a 14 square kilometer sprawl of educational facilities serving students and academics from school age to research level. The site, considered the flagship project of QF, was the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of QF, and was designed to diversify the nation’s economy by ensuring young people had access to a wealth of career possibilities.

As a result, the introduction of Education City has not just spurred new creative industries in Qatar; it has challenged societal expectations of what had been considered male-dominated fields. Nowhere is this clearer than in the startling statistics of female enrollment in the field of engineering across the country.

At Texas A&M University at Qatar (Texas A&M at Qatar), a QF partner university, 70 percent of female undergraduate students are Qatari, while women account for 45.7 percent of the total student body. The latter figure is more than twice the US national average of women in engineering (20.9 percent) and that of female enrollment in engineering at Texas A&M’s main campus in College Station, Texas, (21.9 percent).

Muna Al Mohannadi, an engineering specialist who was named the first-ever Alumnus of the Year by Texas A&M at Qatar in 2003, personifies the resulting expansion of opportunity. She explained that her career choice was one that she hoped would impact not just herself but in time, future generations. “As a Qatari woman working under the umbrella of petroleum engineering and its various fields, I always want to set a good example for others to follow,” she said.

“I think there is a stereotype that engineering is a very tough field and is male-dominated, but I think that should be considered an outdated assumption. The work is not easy in my field, but regardless of gender, if you are a hard worker, you will achieve your objectives as long as you are willing to push yourself.

“If I succeed and can influence young girls in Qatar, perhaps that will make them realize what is possible for their future.”

A unique model of success

Texas A&M at Qatar educators Dr Bilal Mansoor, Assistant Professor; Dr Annie Ruimi, Associate Professor; and Dr Ghada Salama, Instructional Associate Professor, have experience of teaching both in the US and the Arabian Gulf. They feel that Qatar is a unique model of success regarding female empowerment in the fields of STEM and credit part of QF’s advancement of equal educational opportunity with its ensuring that classes are co-educational across all partner universities.

“This a young country and it is clear that there is a push to encourage indigenous engineers, both male and female, stated Dr Mansoor. “Those of us who have been here for a long time, have seen the investment in Education City and the changes it has brought to the country. These levels of opportunity have meant that female students don’t have to leave their family behind and study overseas if they want to pursue their chosen field.”

Dr Ruimi echoed this statement, adding: “Qatar celebrates female role models. Students look up to Her Highness, and her vision, of which they are now a part. The investment Qatar has made in Education City has meant that a lot of barriers that one might expect in the US when young people pursue higher education –such as finances or geography– are not as impactful here, within a multi-university campus. That emboldens people. We often hear from female students who are nervous before attending Texas A&M at Qatar, but also excited and inspired.”

Dr Ruimi and Dr Salama are the founders of an initiative created to support community among female students and allow them to “foster the personal and professional growth of the female student body.”

The initiative is the result of research conducted by Dr Salama and her colleague Dr Sara Hillman across the university, where they received recommendations from the student body. “What Dr Salama and Dr Hillman discovered was that many students had been informally creating such mentor/mentee relationships across the university. By formalizing this kind of opportunity, it will ensure that no students feel lost in their first months,” said Dr Ruimi.

“Next semester, in the 2018-19 academic year, the program will be fully introduced to incoming female freshmen, who will be mentored by existing students,” explained Dr Salama. “For our planned second stage, we want to have senior students mentored by alumni who have entered the workplace.”

While Qatari women make their mark on the engineering world, QF is exploring ways to inspire students to pursue STEM subjects at an earlier stage of their education. Another progressive initiative to launch at Education City in the coming months is set to create a multi-generational model of STEM education: a planned Qatar Academy for Science and Technology that will open for the 2018-19 academic year. The school will offer a program focused on STEM learning, hands-on science skills, and innovative thinking.

As Qatar continues to fast track large-scale developments, engineering has an exciting future, and academics and engineers alike are looking forward to a future that is more female.

Smart Title:

Why is Qatar's percentage of female engineering students double the US's?